VIETNAM, NEWS ANALYSIS, JANUARY 15, 2000

For the last three decades, Western media reports on the Vietnam War mostly covered only a part of the armed conflict in which the American soldiers were participating, as if the American military were the only force that fought the Vietnam Communist army. The Republic of Vietnam Army (ARVN) was often ignored although its strength doubled the Americans in Vietnam and suffered losses twice more than that of the American forces.

Not only activities of the RVN soldiers were not appropriately reported but that of the other allied troops fighting beside the Americans were also ignored. The allies included Thailand with an infantry division including the King Cobra Regiment and its attached units, totaling about 11,000 soldiers; Australia with 9 infantry battalions and an attached artillery battalion from New Zealand; and the 47,000 soldiers of the Republic of Korea (RoK). The Philippines contributed a Civic Action Group of about 2,000 soldiers.

Early this week, there was a report about the alleged massacre committed by the Korean infantry unit in a village of Binh Dinh province in Central Vietnam coastal area. The report was made by Ms Ku Su-jeong who is working for the Hankyere newspaper in Seoul. She heard the story when she was visiting a village in Binh Dinh where the Vietnam Communist Party government had erected a monument in memory of 1,004 victims allegedly massacred by the South Korean troops during the 6-week operation in February 1966 in Binh Khe district, the place now called Tay Son district. The local authorities told her that the victims included 380 villagers who were killed in one day.

Her article was published in May 1999 but it has not been responded as she had expected from Republic of Korea veterans. Her article in Korean language could be found at the web site <www.hani.co.kr>.

This week, three officials of the local government told Reuters in a telephone interview that on February 26, 1966, the Koreans conducted a search-and-destroy operation in the area where 380 peasants in a village were killed at a place called Go Dai. The officials admitted that there had been a number of Communist guerrillas among the dead. Reuters as well as other foreign news agencies weren't permitted to visit the area for more information.

When Reuters asked Hanoi Foreign Minister Nguyen Manh Cam for a comment, Cam said he didn't want to evoke the painful event and by the spirit of humanity and peace, his regime would put behind such stories of the past. When a Reuters correspondent asked if he could take a look at official reports of the massacre, that Hanoi said had been recorded, officials of Hanoi Foreign Ministry denied him a permission, saying that those who were in charge of the archives were too busy to do such favor.

The stories of South Korean troops' atrocities in the Vietnam War is nothing new to the Vietnamese. It could be certain to say that the headquarters of USMACV and RVN Joint General Staff had full accounts of the incidents.

The first RoK infantry units arrived in Binh Dinh on February 26, 1965. Later on, RoK army strength reached the highest number of more than 47,000 troops, in two divisions, a separate brigade, and their supporting units. They were the Capital or "Tigers" Division, the 9th or "White Horse" Division, and the 2nd or Blue Dragon Marine Brigade.

Each was given a Tactical Area of Responsibility where it was responsible for fighting the enemy by their own initiatives and decisions. The Tigers was deployed in Binh Dinh and part of Quang Ngai provinces, the White Horse in Phu Yen and Khanh Hoa, and the Blue Dragon in Quang Nam province.

RoK troops were champions in close combat, renowned in the Vietnam War for their bold ambushes. The Koreans were considered one of the two best combat forces in the Vietnam War. The other was the Australians. Korean commanders were tough and authoritarian under the eyes of the Vietnamese who still remembered how rigid the discipline of the Japanese army had been in 1941-45. A major might beat, slap a captain, a captain might do the same to a lieutenant, and so on...

In their areas of responsibility, curfews were strictly enforced. A person -Vietnamese or Korean - going out at night without a lamp was to commit suicide.

Once a Popular Force (PF, village militia) squad moved about 50 yards into the Korean side of the railway tracks assigned as a boundary between the two areas of responsibility. The Korean troops opened fire without challenging and killed all the Vietnamese squad, whom they mistook as communist guerrillas, in order to have total surprise.

There had been several incidents in which innocent peasants were slain by Korean troops. Documents of those cases kept in the former ARVN Headquarters archives might have been destroyed by the communists after Saigon fell, but could still exist somewhere in the US Army archives.

The following well-known cases are related from memory of many Vietnamese.

Once an RoK battalion on the way of operation captured half dozen communist soldiers. They asked the local PF squad in a village to detain the enemy prisoners so that they could go on without bringing them along, and they would pick them up on the way back. The PF men all agreed and promised to do the best.

A few days later when the Koreans returned to pick up the VC prisoners, the village PF squad said that all the prisoners had escaped. After a short investigation indicating that the militia had either neglected their duty or deliberately let the VC prisoners free, the Koreans executed all the PF squad on the spot.

The massacre reported in the Hankyere might be the same incident that many Vietnamese heard in 1966. The rumor ran that in an operation, the Korean troops encountered strong fire from the communist unit in a village. The Korean unit encircled the village, sealed off all possible escape routes. They used megaphones to warn civilians to get out of their village in a given time or get killed when the Koreans came in.

After the deadline, the Koreans launched a fierce attack and seized the objective in a short time. In their search throughout the village, the Koreans shot to kill every single moving creature they met. According to the rumor, more than 300 peasants - old and young women and men, children - were massacred, plus several scores of enemy troops that mingled with the villagers.

News of the massacre quickly spread far and wide, and from then on, communist units dared not use villagers as their human shields against the Korean force. Some Koreans said that both sides in Korea had been doing the same during the Korean War.

The savage tactic proved effective, as security was maintained considerably in the Korean Force's TAORs. Even thieves were scared off from the area. But no Vietnamese anti-Communist ever thinks of such inhuman tactic.

But despite the fact that a great number of Vietnamese were aware of the massacres, both RVN and American military authorities remained silent, apparently to avoid harmful publicity. Western reporters, who could have spared no time to snatch at such hot news, very seldom accompanied the Vietnamese, let alone the Korean combat units. Compared with the Vietnamese, fewer Korean soldiers who spoke fluent English.

South Vietnamese media of course, had to stay within certain limit in reporting military and war news, particularly an event so sensitive like the Korean massacres. Saigon newspapers only published some reports relating to the Korean force in Vietnam, for example the two rapists who were given death sentences by the RoK court-martial.

In one case in ca.1968, a 20-years-old Vietnamese girl in Ninh Hoa was raped and killed by a Korean soldier. Within an hour or so, the Korean command in the area found the rapist with undeniable proof and he pleaded guilty. A Korean court -martial with military judges sent from Seoul handed him death sentence. Although the victim's parents petitioned the court for commutation, he was shot by a firing squad near the place he had raped the girl after the South Korean president refused to commute the death sentence.

The report evokes sad memory of war in many patriotic Vietnamese. They always condemn killing innocent people by the American soldiers in My Lai as well as by the Korean troops in Binh Dinh, and the 1968 Tet massacre done by the Communist force in Hue where about 10,000 unarmed people were killed or missing. Only about 3,000 bodies have ever been found in mass graves.

In every Tet festival of the Vietnamese émigrés abroad, there is a religious service in memory of the Hue 1968 massacre and other Vietnam War victims. This year, Tet falls on Saturday, February 5. Anyone who has fiercely voiced anger over the My Lai massacre but hasn't had one word for the Hue 1968 victims would be cordially welcomed to the service.

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Subject: 2000-01-14 Proclamation on Religious Freedom Day 2000

Author: The White House <Publications-Admin@pub.pub.whitehouse.gov> at INTERNET

Date: 1/14/00 2:00 PM

Office of the Press Secretary

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For Immediate Release January 14, 2000

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On January 16, 1786, the Virginia legislature enacted a law whose impact is still felt around the world today. Authored by Thomas Jefferson and introduced by James Madison, this act affirmed religious freedom as one of the "natural rights of mankind" and pledged that none would "suffer on account of his religious opinions or beliefs."

Recognizing the fundamental importance of this right to human dignity, our founders modeled the First Amendment to our Constitution on the Virginia statute and made religious freedom and tolerance core values of our democracy. More than a century and a half later, Eleanor Roosevelt, as the Chairperson of the U.N.'s Commission on Human Rights, worked to extend that vision to peoples around the world through her contributions to the U.N.'s Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Americans draw great strength from the free exercise of religion and from the diverse communities of faith that flourish in our Nation because of it. Our churches, mosques, synagogues, meetinghouses, and other places of worship bring us together, support our families, nourish our hearts and minds, and sustain our deepest values. Our religious beliefs give direction to our lives and provide moral guidance in the daily decisions we make.

Freedom of religion, however, still has enemies. In America in recent years, churches and synagogues have been destroyed by arson and people have been attacked because of their religious affiliation.

Across the globe, many people still live in countries where the right to religious freedom is restricted or even prohibited. Some totalitarian and authoritarian regimes actively persecute those who seek to practice their religion, imprisoning, torturing, and even killing men and women because of their faith. Other governments monitor and harass religious minorities, tolerating and even encouraging hostility or acts of violence against them.

My Administration is committed to safeguarding freedom of religion at home and promoting it around the globe. Federal, State, and local law enforcement officials are working in partnership to prosecute and prevent crimes aimed at people because of their religious affiliation, and I have called on the Congress to pass the Hate Crimes Prevention Act to strengthen the Federal Government's ability to combat such crimes.

On the international front, we have made issues of religious liberty a consistent and fundamental part of our public diplomacy. My Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom and his staff have crisscrossed the globe, from China and Uzbekistan to Laos and Russia, to advance religious freedom and to assist those who are being persecuted for their beliefs. In accordance with the International Religious Freedom Act that I signed into law in 1998, the United States recently published the first annual report on the status of religious freedom worldwide and publicly designated the most severe international violators. This report highlights the many crucial efforts of individuals and agencies in the Federal Government to advocate religious freedom abroad, from negotiating with foreign heads of state to pursuing individual cases of persecution or discrimination.

As we observe Religious Freedom Day this year, let us give thanks for the wisdom of America's founders in protecting our precious right to express our beliefs and practice our faith freely and openly. Let us resolve to be vigilant in defending that freedom and teaching tolerance in our homes, schools, communities, and workplaces. And let us continue to lead the world in assisting those who are persecuted because of their religious faith and in proclaiming the rights and dignity of every human being.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, WILLIAM J. CLINTON, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim January 16, 2000, as Religious Freedom Day. I call upon the people of the United States to observe this day with appropriate ceremonies, activities, and programs, and I urge all Americans to reaffirm their devotion to the fundamental principles of religious freedom and tolerance.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this fourteenth day of January, in the year of our Lord two thousand, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and twenty-fourth.

WILLIAM J. CLINTON

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